Norwegian decathlete Skotheim wins an international award for his selfless deed

World Athletics has awarded Norwegian decathlete Sander Skotheim the International Fair Play Award for his selfless assistance to gold medallist and comrade Markus Rooth during the Olympics in Paris.

Skotkeim, 22, lost his chances of winning a medal in the pole vault, the eighth of the ten decathlon disciplines, after failing to clear a height.

But instead of quitting, as is usually the case following a no-height result, he continued to compete and ran alongside Rooth in the 1,500-meter final discipline of the event.

Skotheim had finished third in seven competitions. With a national record score of 8,796 points, Rooth went on to win gold.

“The Olympics was a very interesting experience for me, since I had a very good competition and then I no heighted in the pole vault and it ruined my medal chances,” Skotheim remarked. Markus was in a great position to win because he had a really good pole vault competition at the same time.

“Despite my personal sadness, I wanted to finish the decathlon and support Markus as he led Norway to gold since I adore competing as a multi-eventer. We devised a strategy to guarantee Markus’ victory in the decathlon, and my role was to facilitate his 1500-meter sprint as much as possible.”

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, expressed his pride at the sport’s continued role as a model of cooperation and fair play.

“To rebound after a setback the way Sander did is the mark of a great athlete,” Coe stated. “The true test of character is in the difficult times, it’s not when everything is going well, so I congratulate Sander for his sportsmanship and resilience.”

Members of the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) and World Athletics comprised the jury that selected the award winner.

After winning numerous gold at the Paris Olympics, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands were awarded World Athletes of the Year last week.